News on Classical Music

Vienna makes first woman concertmaster permanent

2010-03-20T13:15:13Z

<div id="subtitle">Vienna Philharmonic permanently appoints its first woman concertmaster</div><div><p>The Vienna Philharmonic has permanently appointed its first woman concertmaster.</p><p>Albena Danailova has been acting concertmaster since September 2008 — the first woman ever in that position with the orchestra. The world famous ensemble announced Saturday that she wa...

A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley

2010-03-19T02:18:16Z

<div id="subtitle">JANIS McKAY</div><div><p> Name: Janis McKay, bassoonist, professor</p><p>Age: 45</p><p>Education: BachelorÕs in music education, University of Georgia; masterÕs in performance, University of Louisville; doctorate in music per...

sir roger moore

2010-03-18T18:32:22Z

Sir Roger Moore attends a pre-concert symphony orchestra rehearsal in Moscow Conservatory. Moscow, Russia - 17.03.10

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Buenos Aires' famed Teatro Colon to reopen May 24

2010-03-17T15:16:00Z

<div id="subtitle">Buenos Aires' famed Teatro Colon opera house to reopen May 24 after 4-year restoration</div><div><p>South America's most famous opera house will reopen May 24, nearly four years after it shut down for a monumental restoration that has run two years over schedule.</p><p>Bueno...

Melancholy Hamlet returns to Met after 113 years

2010-03-17T12:16:30Z

<div id="subtitle">To see or not to see? Simon Keenlyside makes Met opera revival of Thomas' 'Hamlet' worthwhile</div><div><p>Ambroise Thomas' "Hamlet" was last performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 1897, and it's easy to see why more than a century passed before its revival.</p><p>Even with two outstanding singing actors...

More ex-Vienna Boys' Choir members allege abuse

2010-03-17T10:30:26Z

<div id="subtitle">Vienna Boys' Choir abuse allegations widen following initial report last week</div><div><p>The Vienna Boys' Choir said Wednesday it has heard from eight possible abuse victims following an initial report of allegations last week.</p><p>The famed institution said the men range in age from about 40 to over 70 and contacted the choir through a confidential phone and e-mail hot line set up Friday after a local newspaper reported that two former ...

OPERA HAMLET

2010-03-17T10:18:51Z

In this photo provided by the Metropolitan Opera, Simon Keenlyside performs in the title role of "Hamlet," during the dress rehearsal Friday March 12, 2010, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Marty Sohl)

Theater Sondheim Celebration

2010-03-16T07:00:37Z

In this photo provided by the New York Philharmonic, six Broadway divas, spanning several generations of musical theater, flank David Hyde Pierce, center, to celebrate the upcoming 80th birthday of composer Stephen Sondheim, Monday March 15, 2010 at Berlin to Paris to London, but he has come east to take on a new challenge as the first foreign principal conductor in China.</p><p>Many international maestros have made...

Royal Opera to stage Anna Nicole Smith story

2010-03-10T06:00:26Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Britain's Royal Opera will stage the world premiere next year of "Anna Nicole," a work about the life of former Playboy model, actress and tabloid favorite Anna Nicole Smith who died ...

New York City Opera goes 20th century next season

2010-03-09T13:30:49Z

<div id="subtitle">20th century works for New York City Opera's 2010-11 season</div><div><p>The New York premieres of Bernstein's "A Quiet Place" and Stephen Schwartz's "Seance on a Wet Afternoon," the world stage premiere of John Zorn's "La Machine de l'e...

Placido Domingo has cancer surgery

2010-03-08T11:16:49Z

<div><p>Renowned opera singer Placido Domingo has had surgery to remove a malignant cancer tumor in his colon, but expects to perform again as early as next month, a spokeswoman said Monday.</p><p>The surgery on Sunday in New York was a success and Domingo, 69, is expected to recover, following six weeks of rest, spokeswoman Paulo Szot sings during the final dress rehearsal for Metropolitan Opera's production of "The Nose" in New York, Tuesday March 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

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Shostakovich opera has Metropolitan Opera premiere

2010-03-05T05:45:23Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "The Nose" makes a belated Metropolitan Opera premiere on Friday and even before the reviews are in, performances have nearly sold out.</p><p>The new production of "The Nose," based on a short story by...

Chopin bicentennary: show revisits composer's French years

2010-03-05T01:15:55Z

<div><p>During his 18-year exile in France, Frederic Chopin was a regular visitor to a two-storey house on a quiet street in Paris where the Polish composer often performed for friends and renowned artists.</p><p>The house - now a museum but off the beaten path and often missed by tourists -- is hosting one o...

New Warsaw museum gives high-tech tour of Chopin's world

2010-03-04T23:15:57Z

<div><p>Violet fragrance and birdsong accompany the music of Frederic Chopin in a new high-tech museum designed to transport visitors' every sense into the world of Poland's cherished 19th-century composer.</p><p>Located in the 17th-century Ostrogski Palace on a hill in central Warsaw, the "

Vienna Philharmonic pays birthday tribute to Maazel

2010-03-04T10:19:56Z

<div><p>American conductor Lorin Maazel celebrates his 80th birthday this weekend conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the Austrian capital.</p><p>Topping the programme of Saturday's performance at the Musikverein concert hall will be the world premiere of a suite taken from Maazel's opera "1984", based on the novel of the same...

Baritone goes sky-high to get rid of heights fear

2010-03-03T16:45:34Z

<div id="subtitle">Baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky goes sky-high to shake fear of heights with parachute jump</div><div><p>Star baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky is fearless when reaching for musical heights. But the Russian singer says he's always been scared of physical heights — even on stage sets.</p><p>So he decided to tackle his fear by reaching sky-high — literally.</p><p>The 47-y...

In Poland, Chopin's music defines a nation

2010-03-02T13:16:14Z

<div><p>Tsarist Russia berated it as subversive, Nazi Germany banned it outright and to this day, for Poles, the cascading notes of Frederic Chopin still symbolise their country's long struggle for independence.</p><p>After hearing Chopin's quintessentially Polish "Mazurkas" and his "Revolutionary Etude", Aribert Reimann was given a rapturous reception at its world premiere at the Vienna State Opera here Sunday.</p><p>"Medea" is, in the words of the 74-year-old composer, his "eighth-and-a-half" opera, and was commissioned by t...